In the guise of a status report on ObamaCare, Katie Couric on Thursday
night derided Republican efforts to repeal it just as it's "starting to
kick in." She pleaded for viewers to give it a chance as she
rationalized "the law is vulnerable because of the complex way it tries
to fold 30 million uninsured people into the system," fretting "damage could be inflicted by choking off funding for programs that support the law, but a greater threat is the legal storm that's brewing."

Last year, he penned a piece for The New Yorker, "Watching the Health-Care Vote[3]," on how he brought his "fourteen-year-old son to see the vote on health reform" since it meant "hope has arrived."

Gawande revealed: "I realized I was - for just this one day - jealous
of the politicians swirling in and out of the chambers," because:

[T]hey
were going to take a final up or down vote on whether to embrace the
principle in our country that if you are in medical need, you should be
able to get quality health care without bankrupting yourself. And I was
jealous of those who got to step onto the House floor, slide their
identification cards into the electronic voting boxes, and, either way
the tally went, make history.

The bill was not remotely the kind of socialist, government take over of medicine its opponents accused it of being...

The CBS Evening News story ended with Gawande's assurance of
ObamaCare's potential if not ruined by opponents: "I have no question
that we will discover ways that can control costs, improve quality of
care for people. Whether we're going to take those lessons depends
entirely on politics, and that's scary. That's the reality."

Couric began by deriding the GOP/Tea Party agenda: "A move by House
Republicans to repeal the law is going nowhere. Even so, they passed a
resolution today directing House committees to get to work on new health
reform legislation."

After one reporter expressed despair at how many supposedly can't
afford health care, another CBS reporter benignly explained how HHS is
now formulating a huge regulatory regime: "The job of implementing
health care reform belongs to HHS, the Department of Health and Human
Services, and they have an entire new division now to do that."

Citing a poll, Couric relayed how "just 13 percent say they have seen any benefit, even though," Couric stressed, "the most vulnerable are now protected."
But, she told viewers in pleading for them to give the law time, "it
will take six more years to phase in all 91 of the law's major
components."

Couric soon worried "the
law is vulnerable because of the complex way it tries to fold 30
million uninsured people into the system while getting a handle on
costs. By 2019," she seriously asserted, "the law is expected to save
the economy $143 billion."

Reporter Nancy Cordes described the GOP strategy: "One congressional
expert that I spoke to put it this way: He said, 'They're not going to
be able to kill this bill. The best they can do right now is a series of
flesh wounds.'"

To which, Couric flailed: "That damage could be inflicted by
choking off funding for programs that support the law, but a greater
threat is the legal storm that's brewing."

"Threat," not "opportunity."

From the Thursday, January 20 CBS Evening News, transcript provided by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth:

KATIE COURIC: And about the hot issue in Congress this week, 40
percent of Americans say the health care reform law should be repealed.
That's down from 45 percent in November. A move by House Republicans to
repeal the law is going nowhere. Even so, they passed a resolution today
directing House committees to get to work on new health reform
legislation. The vote was 253-175, with 14 Democrats joining the
majority. In the meantime, the reform plan the President signed into law
last year is starting to kick in. Where do things stand? Tonight we put
that "In Focus."

BILL WHITAKER: We went to the Los Angeles Forum. We got there very
early in the morning, around 2:30, 3:00, and already, there was a line
of people. The point of the event was to provide free medical care to
people in need.

COURIC:
In all, more than 5,000. Ten months after the Affordable Care Act
became law, many Americans still rely on charity like this. Implementing
reform is just beginning.

WHITAKER: It was shocking. It was shocking to see that many people needing that level of care.

DR. ATUL GAWANDE, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I think the best
way to understand the health reform package is that it is not a recipe
for everything that's to be done but is, in fact, a toolbox.

COURIC: Atul Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and an influential voice on health care policy.

GAWANDE: This is a rollout that doesn't even begin to produce insurance for people for three years.

COURIC: The key date is 2014. That's when every American not covered
by employers must buy health insurance or pay a fine. This larger pool
of insured Americans is essential to pay for the most ill and expensive
patients. For the next three years, 17 of every 100 Americans will
remain uninsured. That number should drop to nine in 2014.

GAWANDE: This is a long process.

COURIC: A process that requires turning a 900-page law that few people have actually read into a better health care system.

WYATT ANDREWS: The job of implementing health care reform belongs to
HHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, and they have an
entire new division now to do that.

COURIC: The concrete building on Independence Avenue is where the new coverage rules are being defined.

ANDREWS:
There is a special interest lobbying frenzy going on right now over the
definition of one word: essential. Is obesity treatment, is that
essential? Infertility treatment?

COURIC: As the government sorts out those questions, Americans are
still trying to figure out what the law means to them. In our latest
poll, 56 percent say the law has not been explained well. Just 13
percent say they have seen any benefit, even though the most vulnerable
are now protected.

JON LAPOOK, CBS NEWS MEDICAL COORESPONDENT: Children cannot be denied
insurance because of a preexisting condition. At no age can insurance
company cancel your insurance because you get sick. And children can be
covered under their parents' policies up until the age of 26.

COURIC: A gap in Medicare coverage for drug costs is being closed, and
experimental programs to reward doctors for better efficiency and
outcomes are under way. But it will take six more years to phase in all
91 of the law's major components.

CHIP REID: And that's why the White House has its entire war room
operation up and going again. They understand that part one was getting
it passed. Part two is protecting it.

COURIC: The law is vulnerable because of the complex way it tries to
fold 30 million uninsured people into the system while getting a handle
on costs. By 2019, the law is expected to save the economy $143 billion.
But the country's health care tab at that point will still reach $4.6
trillion, or 20 percent of the economy. That's compared to 17 percent
now.

ANTHONY MASON: This law does more to address coverage than it does to
address cost. And business's argument for years has been the problem is
cost and that's what's killing our economy.

WHITAKER: Recently, the largest insurer in California, Blue Shield, announced that it was raising its premiums once again.

COURIC: Californians are not the only ones still being battered with jaw-dropping hikes.

WHITAKER: Many, many people thought that health care reform was going to stop these kinds of increases.

COURIC: Republican leaders are making sure that doesn't go unnoticed.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN): We will continue this fight until ObamaCare is no longer the law of the land.

NANCY CORDES: One congressional expert that I spoke to put it this
way: He said, "They're not going to be able to kill this bill. The best
they can do right now is a series of flesh wounds."

COURIC: That damage could be inflicted by choking off funding for
programs that support the law, but a greater threat is the legal storm
that's brewing.

JAN CRAWFORD: The future of health care reform could well hinge on legal issues, not political ones.

COURIC: More than 20 states are now suing the federal government over the rule that makes insurance coverage mandatory.

CRAWFORD: They say Congress simply exceeded its authority when it
passed this wide-ranging law because it requires residents of all these
states to actually buy insurance or face a tax.

COURIC: Court rulings in favor of the states may cripple reform.

CRAWFORD: So that storm is going to get stronger and build and build.
It's going to get to the appeals courts, and eventually with, I think,
the full force of a hurricane, it's going to hit the United States
Supreme Court.

GAWANDE: I have no question that we will discover ways that can
control costs, improve quality of care for people. Whether we're going
to take those lessons depends entirely on politics, and that's scary.
That's the reality.

COURIC: And for more on what's in the health care reform law and when
the various changes take effect, you can go to cbsnews.com.

- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here[5] to follow him on Twitter.

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